1. Field
The present application relates to firearm magazine loaders, particularly to an aligner for aligning magazines in such a loader.
2. Prior Art
Many small firearms, including pistols, assault rifles, and submachine guns, utilize and fire rounds (also known as cartridges and ammunition). Each round is substantially elongated and comprises a deep cuplike case (also known as a shell casing and sometimes also a cartridge), usually of brass, which is filled with an explosive propellant. At its rear or closed end, the case has a rim or flange containing a primer; the front and opposite end of the case is open. A bullet, slug, or head, usually of lead (optionally jacketed) is partially inserted into the open or front end of the case by crimping the case onto the bullet.
The rounds are held within and fed into the firearm from a magazine, also known as a clip. A detachable magazine has become dominant throughout the world. The term ‘magazine’ is broad, encompassing several geometric variations, including curved magazines. Most detachable magazines are similar, varying in form and structure, rather than in their general principles of operation.
Magazines usually take the form of an elongated container having a generally rectangular cross-section, which is attached to the underside of the firearm. Magazines are commonly made of aluminum alloys, plastic, steel, or a combination. They are usually closed on five sides and open on a sixth, upwardly facing, top, side, or end, and are substantially hollow. The top or open side has a rectangular opening and includes two round-retaining members, known as feed lips, that project into the opening. Magazines have an internal spring which urges a follower or pusher (a shaped piece of plastic or metal) toward the open side. The follower in turn urges the rounds as a group up against the lips. The lips act as a stop for the rounds so that they are not expelled from the magazine.
Rounds are stacked or oriented in the magazine such that the longitudinal axes of the rounds are substantially parallel and perpendicular to the direction of travel of the spring and follower. Adjoining rounds are oriented side-by-side, i.e., the bullets of adjacent rounds are next to each other, as are the cases.
The rounds are usually stacked in the magazine, either in a single straight column or in a staggered (zigzag) column (also called double-stacked or high-capacity) fashion. The latter magazines, being wider, achieve higher round capacity compared to single-column magazines of the same overall length.
Commonly, in pistol magazines and in some submachine gun magazines, whether staggered or not, the space between the retaining lips is smaller than the case diameter of the rounds so that the two lips of the magazine hold the topmost round. Magazines of most assault rifles and submachine guns contain staggered rounds, and in contrast to the above pistol magazines, the topmost round is held in place by only a single lip. The latter magazines are not relevant here, so hereafter the term ‘magazine’ will mean magazines where two lips retain the topmost round.
Prior to use, a firearm magazine must be loaded, charged, or filled with rounds. When a magazine is being loaded, it is necessary to depress all previously loaded rounds to provide vacant space below the lips so an additional round can be inserted or loaded into this space. Each time another round is loaded the spring is further compressed, requiring more insertion force. When a magazine is fully loaded, the spring is fully compressed and exerts maximum upward force against the follower and rounds towards the lips.
Loading magazines is relatively time-consuming, tedious, and painful practice if done with bare fingers. Pain accumulates and intensifies as more rounds are loaded against the increasing spring pressure, thus slowing the loading process. When a plurality of magazines are to be loaded, much time is required, shortening reposing, training, or combat time. In combat circumstances, slow reloading can be life-threatening.
To increase loading speed and decrease finger pain, numerous magazine loaders have been designed. However, in the market there are many different pistol magazines. They differ in their round capacity, length, width, depth, round caliber, materials, adaptability to match magazine wells, shape of lips, and magazine locking or latching mechanism. Often, each pistol has its own unique magazine. Therefore, to accommodate the extremely wide range of magazines with all their mechanical variations, manufacturers of magazine loaders had to manufacture the following loader types:                1. loaders of different fixed sizes, basically described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,180 to Upchurch Feb. 19, 1991. Such is a family of three different size loaders from ADCO Sales Inc., shown at www.adcosales.com, and sold under the trademark Super Thumb models ST1, ST2 and ST3. Many other similar loaders from Glock Inc., SIG Arms, Springfield Armory and others exist comprising a hollow body with a fixed projecting member or plunger for inserting, pushing, or forcing rounds into a magazine;        2. loaders with an integral user-adjustable mechanism to fit the loader to a particular magazine, such as loaders (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,249,386 and 5,377,436 to Switzer, Oct. 5, 1993 and Jan. 3, 1995, respectively) sold under the trademark HKS. These have different overall sizes and a magazine length adjuster or fitter in each (HKS has ten different magazine loaders in the market for covering most of the magazines available); or        3. loaders with inserts or spacers to accomodate different magazine widths, such as the loader model #104 shown at www.worldwideordnance.com and sold under the trademark Cambi (U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,134 to Newman Nov. 16, 2004) having four separate insertable spacers.        
In summary, while there have been attempts to provide a mechanism for accepting a large range of different pistol magazines in a single magazine loader, none was able to do just that, and all are quite limited in the range of magazines they accept. Further, all existing ‘adjustable’ loaders have to be adjusted prior to use, and none has an automatic adjusting means.